The World Series of Boxing (WSB) Season IV winners Cuba Domadores are enjoying a flawless start to the fifth instalment of the competition, with four consecutive victories and an incredible 20-0 individual match record.
They look to make it 25-0 away to Mexico Guerreros who have started Group A relatively well, with two wins and a brace of defeats from their opening four matches.
Light flyweight Joselito Velázquez Altamirano won his first match of the season after just two minutes, and will hope for another quick night against the Cuban 2013 AIBA Junior World Champion Joahnys Oscar Argilagos.
Mexican Bantamweight Brian González also enjoyed a stoppage win two weeks ago, but he will have his hands full against Cuban debutant Andy Cruz Gomez.
At Light welterweight , two-time AIBA World Championships silver medalist and Olympic bronze medalist Yasnier Toledo is aiming for his third win of the season for the Domadores when he faces Mexico’s Raúl Curiel García, who has also won his opening two matches of the campaign.
1-1 Mexican Light heavyweight Misael Uriel Rodríguez Olivas then competes with Arlen Lopez, who is looking very sharp this season.
The Mexican Franchise will be perhaps praying that the match isn’t drawn going into the last fight, as WSB icon Erislandy Savon is in action at Heavyweight, and the powerful Cuban is looking to go 11-0 in the competition against Daniel Paniagua.
Wrestling
Cuba with three titles and the United States with four topped the standings yesterday of the Cerro Pelado -Granma International Wrestling Tournament which takes place in Havana until next Saturday.
The Cuban wrestlers Alexander Casals (66 kg), Gilberto Piquet (85) and Oscar Pino (130) dominated their respective divisions in the Greco-Roman style to the delight of fans gathered in the Sports City Coliseum.
Casals surprised everybody when defeating Miguel Martínez 2-1 in the final, being Martinez the monarch of the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, last November.
Piquet, meanwhile, said good defense and stamina were essential to beat Pablo Shorey, an athlete who has under his belt a silver medal at the World Championships.
Also on Thursday, Pino won 2-0 over a more experienced opponent as Yasmani Acosta, who repeated the performance of last year .
In Greco-Roman style only one gold medal escaped the hosts, won by Andy Biseck (75) – universal contests bronze medalist, who defeated Yurisandi Hernandez by forfeit in the final fight.
Among the women, three US competitors climbed to the top of the podium in freestyle; those were the cases of Victoria Anthony (48), Helen Maroulis (55) and Elena Pirozhkova (69).
Mojica shines in the Gran Piedra
SANTIAGO DE CUBA.-Imperial in the mountains, José Mojica not only won Thursday with a superb strike in the Gran Piedra, the queen stage of the cycling classic Guantánamo-Havana also left the image of the brave rider who is determined to win the race.
When we try to establish the archetypal climber, we always come with a slim guy that has the head of a dreamer and tapered legs to chase summits. Without further ado, this is the way this Artemisa guy is, with the particularity that he also wheels well on the flat.
This Friday the third stage of the tour holds 125 kilometers to Bayamo, and is expected to have some strategy available to entertain the public and threaten the new leader.
Cuban Baseball Championship restarts
Five days after Pinar del Rio won the title in the Caribbean Series, this Friday hostilities restart in the Cuban baseball championship.
Right in the middle of a hangover from the victory in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the defending champion, restarts the way, focused one being included among the top four teams, to try to at least defend its crown in the playoffs.
The calendar of the current series ends on March 19, to give way to the postseason, in which the four best located teams in the standings will begin the playoffs semifinals on March 24.
The dispute for the title of baseball in Cuba, corresponding to the 2014-2015 season, is scheduled for the 4 to 12 April.
French Sport Movement Pushes for Candidacy to Olympics
Paris, Feb 12 (Prensa Latina) The French sports movement continues its activities today to obtain the necessary support to put Paris forward as a candidate for the headquarters of the 2024 summer Olympic Games.
The initiative is boosted by the French International Sport Committee, who aims that the capital and France might conceive an Olympic and paralympic project with resolution to win, with an estimated cost of more than 4,5 million euros.
The French Minister of Youth and Sports, Patrick Kanner, Thursday showed his support for the project that intends to make use of the already existing infrastructure.
The latest information shows that the Mayor of Paris will submit the candidacy for voting to the city council in April and that it will announce its final decision in June.
Experts say that there are divisions in deciding if they should present the candidacy to host the Olympic Games of 2024 or the Universal Exhibition of 2025.
The discussion focused on various elements, like the fact that some of them think that the exhibitions have contributed more to the city than a big sport event. On the other hand, the unfavorable economic situation that faces the country is also an important issue.
All the candidate cities must present their dossier next September and the name of the host will be revealed in 2017.
Paris played host to the summer Olympics in 1900 and 1924.
